Eclipse of the Heart
by mrshutch
Summary: I've always wondered what really happened to Peeta when the Capitol got him. So this is his story. Reviews? Comments?
1. Remember

_Peeta Mellark. We had caught the wrong person. It was the girl they wanted. She had escaped somehow, but that does not matter anymore. Everyone knows she loves him. He will help us. Peeta Mellark will be a weapon. We will succeed in the end and the boy will help or watch his lover die._

I didn't know where I was. It was white; almost too white for me to open my eyes. My hands were cuffed and my

body was stretched across a white bed. Someone had clothed my in a plain white shirt and white pants. I closed

my eyes and tried to remember where I was. I remember there was pain in my head then sudden darkness then

this place. Someone was screaming, a girl with a dark brown braid and beautiful eyes. Katniss! Her angelic face

filled my vision and I sat up abruptly only to find straps holding down. I tried to relax and closed my eyes again.

Something happened in the arena. She had shot an arrow up then all of hell broke loose.

I remember now. People in white, Capitol people, caught me as I tried to reach her.

I was running toward her when they got me. She was pulled up into a ship, I into another. No! I remember.

Where was she? A deadly fear for her life filled my heart like black poison. In a scream of anguish I tried to break

free. It was no use, the straps held strong and the cuff dug into my wrist with stubborn strengthI have failed.

How could I let her out of my sight? How could I be so stupid? Energy drained out from my body as the thought of

my beautiful Katniss hurting, maybe even dead. No. She was strong. My fiery girl would never let someone take

her into the dark abyss of death. That thought comforted me a little. She needed to survive. I could never live

without her. Live. The thought about my life snapped me back into the white room in which I was locked up. They

will never get me. I took a deep breath, readying myself for whatever the day should bring.


	2. Visitor

The door opened and a man walked in. He had cold gray eyes that stared and bore a hole into my heart. A sickly

sweet smell of roses wafted from him. President Snow. An overwhelming wave of anger swept through me. I

wanted to get up and beat him to my mercy. I wanted to feel his bones give way and break under my hands. It

was a murderous rage like no other I have felt. He had threatened my Girl on Fire; he had scared my dear

Katniss. It was because of him that she wasn't in my arms, safe and sound. I knew if she was hurt right now, it

would be because of him.

He could sense my anger radiating from my soul. The damned man smiled the smile of the cursed devil and walked

up to me. A cold finger traced a wound on my face that I had received in the arena. I shuddered at his touch. His

breath smelled like the roses everyone knew he loved. Then something else hit me, the smell of iron, rust, salt;

the smell of blood. The bloody smell became stronger and stronger until the rose perfume no longer did any good.

It tried to hide behind the veil of sweetness, but it was there. I almost gagged in disgust, but my anger took over

and I spat in his face. He barely blinked, instead, he smiled wider.

"If I were you, Peeta Mellark, I would watch what I do," he whispered hoarsely into my ear. His voice sent an icy

chill down my spine. "Don't anger the man who has the power to kill everything, everyone that you love. Be

smart."

"You'll never get me to help you," I growled.

"No? What if the only other option would be to watch the girl you love…die? I could arrange for that too. What's

her name again? Oh yes, Katniss Everdeen. The Girl on Fire."

"What have you done? Where's Katniss?" I struggled against the straps, my voice rising in panic. "Please, don't

hurt her. I love her. No. Don't."

He just smiled again, a smile of pure evil. "She tries to hide, but I see all, hear all. I am after all, the President. If

you do not cooperate, I will rip her apart, limb from limb, in the slowest, most cruel fashion. I will make her

experience pain beyond your imagination. Her blood will spill and drop by drop, her body will be drained. The last

thing she will see is you before her vision is blinded by the pain of knives poking and slicing her soft pink skin. She

will spend her last moments detesting your very life because you could have saved her. The Girl on Fire then will

be lit on fire and we shall see if fire is truly her friend. You will be forced to watch her pretty little mouth take its

last breath before she is consumed by Death who so eagerly awaits the girl who should have gone to him long

ago. Then you will be next. You will experience the same pain as she had. I will make sure of that."

He finished with a cruel cold smirk. His grey eyes held a glint of excitement as he imagined the horrific scene that

he had just described. I was breathless, unbelieving that such a evil could possess man. I closed my eyes in

defeat. The image of Katniss burning caused more agony than any knife could have inflicted. Snow laughed and

turned away from me.

"You will see in time that joining me is your only choice," he said and then walked out.

A man in a white coat came in, holding a needle. I tried to lash out, but my struggle was in vain. A heavy darkness

came upon me and there was no way I could fight it.


	3. Experiment

_Katniss smiled and wrapped her arms around me. I held her closer to me, felt the warmth of her body. I kissed her and her soft lips parted as she gave in to my love. She said it was all an act, but I knew better. Somewhere, deep down, maybe not even that deep, she loved me just as I love her. I could feel her heart beating faster as our kiss became more passionate. This type of kiss was not the result of an act. I drank in the sweetness of her breath; my hands felt the softness of her long hair. She tugged lovingly at my short locks as we slipped deeper into the kiss. I started to guide her toward the bed. Oh god, she was so beautiful. _

A prick in my arm startled me awake from my dream. I wanted to cry as Katniss slipped from my mind. The dream

had been too real, too beautiful. Desperately, I tried to grasp on to the last feel of her lips upon my, but it was

gone. Replacing her softness was the horrible taste and feel of my dry mouth. Thirst and hunger came back as I

opened my eyes to the harsh white light of the room. The same man as before cleaned up a prick on my arm with

a harsh smelling liquid.

"What are you doing?" I managed to croak from my dry throat.

The man did not speak. He simply gave me a look of deep pity and left. President Snow's disgusting face filled my

vision.

"He is an Avox, especially trained for my medical needs, or in this case, experiment. I ask you to not speak to him,

he does not deserve your words and you do not deserve to speak. You have just been given a shot of tracker-

jacker venom. It will bring immense pain, as you may know. Within five minutes, you will experience the first of the

hallucination, but don't panic. I have only given you a small amount, not enough to kill or last very long. Consider

yourself lucky," Snow said in a cool, matter-of-fact voice. "Now as a part of the experiment I will read to you this,"

He shook the pieces of paper he was holding.

By now, I could feel the poison in my system. It seemed to pierce into my flesh and spread across my chest,

scratching its evil fingers toward my heart. I groaned in pain as I gave up the fight against the venom. It seized

control of my body and invaded my mind.

A cold whisper penetrated through the poison, "It is a girl you are imagining. She is young, slim, and lithe. Her soft

dark brown hair is done in an elegant, yet simple braid. She is tall for a girl, and her body is built from the years of

hunting, yet slim from the lack of food. Katniss Everdeen is her name and she is beautiful, nearly angelic. Yet, she

is evil. You may not think so, but she is to the peaceful people of the Capitol. Katniss wants to kill and destroy all

that we have worked for. She wants to disturb the peace we have tried so hard to maintain. This girl is a power

hungry maniac. Her brown eyes are beautiful, yes, but they shine with a crazy, violent glint. The seductive smile is

a fake, only trying to lure innocent people into the evils of her mind. This girl also possesses a voice; a voice so

rich and pleasing, that when she sings, even the birds stop to listen. She uses that voice to seduce young men

like Peeta Mellark, you. Love is not a word she knows, only deceit and greed."

I knew the words weren't true. Katniss was not evil. Snow was evil. Yet, the poison confused me, set me off

balance. I allowed, for a moment, the words to sink image of the maniac filled my vision. Lies! I knew they were

lies. I fought to keep the truth with me.

"I think that's enough for today," said Snow.

I let out a scream in reply.

He chuckled and walked out, leaving me to the thought of a new Katniss; one that he created out of lies. The

venom faded soon after, but the words stayed and they played over and over again in my head.

The Avox came in later to feed me and help satiate my thirst, but I could not swallow. He put a hand on my

shoulder as if to comfort me. The small movement relaxed me. I blocked the new Katniss out of my head and

recalled the sweet kiss I had dreamed of. I remembered her soft lips and loving hands as they stroked my hair.

The old Katniss returned to my thoughts and smiled and began tasting the food I knew I would need to keep

myself strong.


	4. Avox

It was the same thing every day; the same passage that lodged itself in my brain and poisoned my thoughts. I

now dreamed of not sweet kisses, but of a fiery girl with a manic glint in her eye. It scared me, knowing I was

losing the sight of the girl I know I love. Snow was slowly, but surely getting into my head. It was getting harder

and harder to remind myself that it was the poison that was speaking. Everything was lies. The Avox tried his

subtle movements to comfort, but they were starting to have no effect on me. I was forgetting, the memories of

my past were slipping away.

Here in this white room, time did not pass, time did not stop. I could not tell whether it was day or night if it

weren't for the meals they fed me. It was good food, nutritious, but I would rather starve than to keep on being

fed lies.

Once in a while, I was let off the bed and the Avox walked me around the room. President Snow observed from

the doorway with his cool eyes. After lying on the bed for hours or even days at a time, my muscle's weakened

and I had trouble walking sometimes.

Today, the Avox was feeding me when President Snow walked in. He slammed his hand against my bed and

yelled at the Avox to leave. I jumped at his sudden bout of physical violence. He un-cuffed my hands and undid

the straps. With strength I did not think he had, Snow grabbed me by the collar and pulled me up to face him.

"Tell me, tell me now. Do you love her?" he snarled breathlessly.

"Love who?" I tried to think. A face popped up in my head, but faded just as quickly. Who did I love again? I

squeezed my eyes shut and tried to remember.

"The girl, Katniss," Snow spat in impatience.

Katniss. The name clicked in my head. Did I love her? Something told me I did at a point, but another image

quickly took over. She was the evil that the voice spoke of. Katniss was the deceitful greedy girl who looked like

an angel, but had the mind and soul of the devil. The fiery spite and malice that the girl supposedly contained

caused me to shudder.

"Tell me, do you?" Snow shook me again.

Then the image of the lovely girl I once knew came back. I saw her lips turn up in a beautiful smile and he soft

hands caress my face. The dream came back to me and I saw her pink lips so soft and seductive. I wanted to hold

her close to me and kiss her and make her mine.

"Yes," I breathed.

Snow dropped my down and let out a scream of frustration. "Avox!"

The man ran in, his face pale, and his hands were shaking. Snow shot him with a dart and the Avox dropped onto

the floor.

"You are a lucky bastard," Snow spat. "That Avox thought he had made a friend and he was replacing the venom

with water these past three days, but it's over."

He took a large syringe and jabbed it into my heart. Pain exploded across my chest and horrible, horrible words

were screamed into my ear. Snow forced me back into my restraints as I thrashed around.

"No!" I shouted. An evil Katniss repainted herself into my head. She hissed at me and clawed at my eyes. I felt

blood trickle down and she licked the ruby droplets that fell to the ground. Her teeth were stained with my blood

and her eyes looked eager for more.

Snow left me there; he left me drowning in my nightmare and hallucination.


	5. Memory

I hated her. She wanted nothing, except for power, power, and more power. President Snow told me she would

stop at nothing to get it. He said she was killing people in the other districts and was making way for the Capitol.

"Katniss is a part of the rebellion. She is leading them here, to kill me, to kill you, to kill the people," President

Snow said, his eyes looked almost sad.

I nodded. She would not kill me or President Snow if I could help it.

"We are planning an attack on them. They are hiding in District 13 like cowards. Don't worry, it will be quick; an

aerial attack. I have trained captains who will drop some bombs, then it will all be over. You will be safe, I will be

safe, she will be dead."

A smile crept on my lips. Good, they will not get a chance to hurt anymore innocent citizens.

"Now my dear, it's time for your medication. Remember, it's going to hurt a little," President Snow held out a small

needle and pricked me.

I closed my eyes. The pain was almost getting bearable. In fact it wasn't too bad. I let the images wash over me

like a movie on a constant replay. There was Katniss, armed with her bow and arrow.

"Her hair streamed behind her, soaked in the blood she had shed. An arrow streaked out of her hand with

incredible force and lodged itself in one of the poor defenders of the Capitol," the voice whispers to me.

I see her, ruthlessly shoot down people. The screams of dying men, women, and children make my ears ring and

my lip curl. Anger courses through my veins and I start to shake with fury. I hate her. I want her to die…

Dinner came later, after the medicine had run its course. It was lamb stew today and Snow finally had let me roam

around the room freely, so I ate it while looking out the window to the Capitol. Something about the dish made

me want to laugh. A memory was triggered in my head. I thought about it as I ate and a cave popped up in my

head. It was dark, rainy I think. My leg twitched and then I remembered that my leg was hurt.

Then I remembered a kiss, a gentle touch of the lips. There was a girl. She cleaned my leg wound and worried

over my fever. I dropped my spoon and grabbed at my hair in desperation. Why couldn't I remember? The memory

was right there, but I couldn't seem to grasp it. The cave came so clearly, but the girl was hidden behind a misty

veil.

"Peeta! Are you done? I need you to come with me," President Snow burst into my room. "Here, I need you to

read this." He handed me some papers. "I need you to persuade Katniss to stop what she is doing. We will give

them one more chance before the attack." He looked at me funny. "Are you okay? You look pale."

Swallowing hard, I croaked, "I'm fine."

As I looked over the papers, a sick feeling formed in my stomach. The girl in the cave. Her gentle hands caressing

my forehead. A sudden swell of emotion came upon me.

Katniss…


	6. Shiny

_My leg had hurt. It was blood poisoning yet you refused to say it at first. Your gentle, but strong hand washed the _

_wound and bandaged it. I thought I would die there. In fact, if i did, I would have been happy because you were there. _

_It's all I've ever wanted since the day I heard you sing. I wanted to love you, to marry you one day and have us grow _

_old together. If you died, there would be nothing to live for. You didn't know I gave you the bread because I wanted the _

_girl __I loved to have food, not for charity. My mother beat me for it, but it was worth it, I did everything for you. I love _

_you, Katniss._

For the first time in months I breathed unsterilized air. Snow led me through a maze of halls into a gigantic room

filled. There were people all around me. Lights were being adjusted and cameras were being moved around. A

crew of women ran up to me and sat me down in a chair. They started to add powders to my face and combed my

messy hair. All of the movement seemed unimportant to me as I stared at the sheets of paper. I tried to read the

words, but I couldn't concentrate. All I could see is the warm brown eyes of a girl. They were so filled with love

and completely unlike the girl I had thought was evil. Now I realized everything I had thought for the past few

weeks or even months were lies. The truth was hidden deep inside the crevices of my brain. I was determined to

dig deep for the truth.

I sorted through the images that flashed in my head. One by one, I named them a lie or the truth. Somehow, the

newer memories, the lies were… how to describe them? Shiny almost. Rage coursed through my veins as I looked

at the man who had injected the lies into me.

"Peeta, in ten minutes I need you to look into the camera and say what I wrote on the paper. Can you do that?"

I could not do anything but nod.

"One more thing, you need to take this shot, it will help calm you down. You look nervous." President Snow

purred as he lifted my sleeve and prepared to inject me with a clear liquid that I now knew was tracker jacker

venom. At that moment I promised myself he will never steal my thoughts away again.

"No!" I shouted as the needle touched my arm. "Don't touch me."

Snow looked at me in surprise. Before I could jerk my arm away from his tightening grip, he stabbed the needle

into my bicep.

I was losing them. Slowly, I felt the truths I had just rediscovered slip away into the nothingness in which I had

just pulled them out of. The shiny images of the evil Katniss replanted themselves and grew like weeds. I fought

though. I fought as if my life depended on it, and in many ways it did. There was no way I could forget the old

memories again, but the venom was strong.

After the venom had run its course, I sat there, dazed and confused. _Was this a dream?_ I thought to myself. My

whole body was trembling from the mental pain I had once again endured. All I wanted to do was lie down and

sleep. Snow gave me a moment to calm down a bit and pushed me in front of the cameras.

"Read it," he ordered.

My hands shook as I glanced down at the papers. I took a deep breath, stared at the camera and started

talking…


	7. Blood

It was complete chaos. Screams broke out, cameras were quickly turned away, and people looked around in

alarm and panic. It was almost funny how the Capitol people ran around with their ridiculous shades of hair. A

woman with high purple hair and blue-tinged skin fainted on the spot. Another man with a violent blue fuzz

tripped over the camera equipment. I would have laughed if the situation wasn't so alarming. Snow grabbed at

me to stop me from saying more. He slapped me hard, but the pain only brought me more into focus.

Halfway through my speech, I had cut my finger on the paper. The sharp sting triggered the memory of my leg in

the cave. It wasn't the same type of throbbing, but it was close enough. Katniss. I had flung the papers away and

tried to warn her. The Capitol would attack them soon. Snow had told me they were planning an air attack on the

rebelling District. It was his biggest mistake of the day. Before I could tell her I loved her, a madhouse broke out.

It was all worth it though. I may have saved her. And I found how to fight the lies. Snow's slap still stung and it

was starting to turn an ugly shade of purple. I touched the bruise on my cheek causing it to sting even more. Pain

was the key to the problem. It brought me back into the sharpness of reality. Somehow, it triggered my memories

of the cave with Katniss. I remembered the pain of my leg, but most of all, I remembered her gentle touch. Now I

knew how to fight, but the only problem was remembering how. I knew Snow would only torture me with the lies

again and worse than ever.

Snow was dragging me by my collar, making it difficult to breathe. The fabric of my shirt started to tear as I

struggled to stand up so I wouldn't be suffocated. I was hurled into the white room and the door was slammed

shut. Desperately, I tried the handle, but of course, it was locked. It was useless trying to find a way out. The

white walls held no weakness that I might have taken advantage on. Only a tiny murmur of sound could be heard

struggling through the tiniest crack in the door.

The bruise on my cheek was swelling painfully. My heart was skipping beats from the rush of adrenaline that was

pumping through my body. For the first time in a long while, I felt completely in focus. Everything was unusually

sharp and the gears in my brain were whirling at top speed. It was a feeling I didn't want to let go of. I felt the

same way when Katniss first kissed me. The same heart beat that skipped out of control, the same type of

elation. A swell of emotion came upon me as remembered her. I feverishly hoped my warning was not in vain.

Maybe she had heard me and maybe she would be safe. Snow could punish me all he wanted to now. As long as

I could die knowing I did something to help. If I were to die, I wanted to die being me. I want to let them know

that they didn't own me.

I sat on the bed staring at the cut. Slowly, I squeezed out a drop of blood, letting a small red tear fall and

watched as it dyed the sheet red; a splash of color in a canvas of white. The blood spread like a flower,

blossoming from nothing. Using my fingernail, I deepened the cut. Gasping from pain, I dug even deeper. More

blood came forth and I started to create from this new paint source I had now created a red mockingjay on the

sheets. I let the wings fan out as if it were flying far away to freedom. Soon, my finger was throbbing from the

loss of blood, but I looked at my work and knew that the pain was worth it. My red blood made the mockingjay

look as if it were on fire. _The Girl on Fire_ I thought to myself. Oh how I loved her.


	8. Chapter 8

_Snow was furious. The air raid wasn't supposed to happen yet. He wanted to wait another day or so, but it was too late, _

_they knew. All the planes on standby were alerted, all of them were caught unprepared. Pilots were woken from naps _

_and some were in the middle of more than just naps. It was a sign of how powerful Snow was to see each Pilot jump to _

_attention without question. They knew that questions equaled death. Nobody wanted to die. The attack was carefully _

_monitored. Over a thousand men and women watched it on large screens, making sure every pilot was in correct _

_formation and nothing would be missed. Explosions lit up the sky and giant tongues of orange flame jumped from one _

_place to the next. Nothing on the ground or underground could survive. After the bombing, everyone had returned and _

_stood at attention, fearfully __waiting for Snow to initiate the next step, but he never appeared to speak to them. They _

_waited through the whole __night, but their leader was nowhere to be found._

_Instead, he paced like a furious tiger in his garden, lashing out at unpredictable times at his finely groomed rose bushes _

_and vines. He ignored everyone as he digested the previous events of the day. His brain reeled, thinking of ways to do _

_damage control. _

I was in silver cuffs, chained to a post like a dog by cuffs. A small twitch brought a shock of pain from the

movement sensitive cuffs. My muscles were sore and the intensity of my headache ruined any chance of thinking

of an escape. Even though my vision was blurred, I could see that I was in a different room. Instead of the stark

white walls of the previous room, I was surrounded by a softer white color with gold trimmings and green vines

climbing up giant, yet graceful, pillars. Blooming on the vines were the sickly sweet smelling white roses. Beautiful

fountains rose to touch the sky as gentle water falls trickled down. Snow was pacing next to me, obviously

furious. I moved to put my swelling face on the cold of the pillar and winced as the cuffs sent a shock through me.

"Sir, the Pilots have returned." A man dressed in a ridiculously dazzling blue suit hesitantly stepped into the

garden. "They are waiting for you."

Snow looked up with his pale eyes shooting a fiery glare. The man backed up quickly, preparing himself to make a

run for it, but Snow sighed and his shoulders hung limply down. For the first time, he looked like an old man; aged

and venerable. I could see the dark bags under his eyes and the usual crackle of electricity that his eyes

contained were gone. He was no longer President Snow, the cruel and powerful man; he was just Cornelius

Snow, a regular man. The other man cleared his throat, confused as I was about Snow's sudden change. Snow

looked at the man and straightened himself, becoming once again, the president of Panem.

"I was afraid I would have to do this. Take the boy to the operating room. It's the only way now."

I sat up in alarm and protested and the man looked down pitifully at me as he took out a tranquilizer. "Hold still

boy, it will only hurt if you struggle…"

_I am now a weapon. The rebels are coming to take me to Katniss. The girl on fire is the reason why I am alone in the _

_Capitol. A dark scar on the back on my head from my operation showed me what she has done. I was blinded before by _

_her flames, but now I see. She killed my family, my friends, now I will kill her._


End file.
